Tuesday, 31 May 2016

Daily Current Affairs 31st May 2016

Admiral Sunil Lanba on 31 May 2016 took charge as Chief of Naval Staff.

58-year-old Lanba, a specialist in Navigation and Direction, will have the full three-year tenure as the Navy Chief.

Lanba succeeded Admiral RK Dhowan.

Lanba is the 21st(overall 23rd) Indian to be the Navy Chief. The first two were British.

2. NBCC to launch Ganga cleaning project in Bihar:

Public sector company NBCC (India) is set to kickstart projects aimed at cleaning the Ganga in Bihar.

Under the project, NBCC will undertake cleaning of debris, construction of new ghats, modernisation of existing ghats, repair, cleaning of the river surface, construction of crematorium and public facilities such as toilets.

It will also set up a village drainage system in order to curb direct discharge into the river.

In total, NBCC will carry out projects across 19 towns in Bihar but till now it has got the approval only for 9 towns.

3. AR Rahman conferred with Japan's Fukuoka prize 2016:

Indian music composer AR Rahman awarded with the Japan's Fukuoka prize 2016 for his outstanding contribution towards creating, preserving and showcasing South Asian traditional fusion music.

In 2015, Indian Historian Ramchandra Guha was conferred with Fukuoka Prize in academic category.

The Fukuoka Prize is an award established by the city of Fukuoka and the Yokatopia Foundation to honour the outstanding work of individuals or organizations in preserving or creating Asian culture

4. Snapdeal opens data sciences centre in California:

Online marketplace Snapdeal has established a data sciences centre in San Carlos, California, which will help it to get top global talent and build high-value solutions.

This centre will focus on big-data and advanced analytics to add clarity to Snapdeal's consumer-centric initiatives, which will help to shape business strategy and optimize the operational efficiencies using data.

5. Surajit Kar Purkayastha Appointed Director General Of West Bengal Police:

Former Kolkata Police Commissioner Surajit Kar Purkayastha has appointed as the new Director General of Police in West Bengal following the retirement of G M P Reddy.

Purkayastha is a 1985 batch Indian Police Service officer. He has earlier served as Kolkata's Commissioner of Police.

6. Indian Railways, PEC sign MoU to set up Kalpana Chawla Chair on geospatial technology:

Union Ministry of Railways and PEC University of Technology have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for setting up of Kalpana Chawla Chair on Geospatial Technology for Indian Railways at the University.

The academic chair is being instituted in memory of Indo–American Astronaut and Alumnus of PEC Late Kalpana Chawla. She was the first woman of Indian origin in space.

The objective of the chair is to encourage research activities of Indian Railways in Geo-spatial Technology.

7. No tax deduction for PF withdrawals of up to rs. 50,000 from June 1:

The government has notified that it has raised the threshold limit of PF withdrawal for deduction of tax (TDS) from existing Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000.

Because the government had introduced the proposal to deduct TDS on PF withdrawals in order to discourage pre-mature withdrawal and to promote long term savings.

Also, no tax is deducted if employee withdraws PF after a period of five years. The provision will come into effect from June 1, 2016.

8. Gurpreet Singh Sandhu becomes first Indian to play in Tippeligaen:

National football team goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu became the first Indian to play top-tier European football league match. He turned out for Norwegian side Stabaek FC in Norwegian Premier League (Tippeligaen) .

Gurpreet Singh Sandhu signed for Stabaek FC in 2014.

9. Kohli named T20 Player of Year in Ceat Award event:

Virat Kohli was named 'Ceat T20 Player of the Year' awards 2016 in Mumbai.

He was also named as the Player-of-the-Tournament after scoring 973 runs in 16 matches.

While, former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar was conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer were awarded 'The Young Player of the Year award' and 'Domestic Cricketer of the Year' respectively.

England batsman Joe Root, who was named as the Ceat International Cricketer of the Year as well as International Batsman of the Year.

India off-spinner R Ashwin won the Ceat International Bowler of the Year award.

Rohit Sharma was named as the Indian Cricketer of the Year.

One special award was handed over to Rahane, who has become the fifth Indian Cricketer to score a century in each inning of a Test Match.

A New Zealand duo of Kane Williamson and Martin Guptill were also awarded as the "Test Cricketer of the Year" and "ODI Cricketer of the Year" respectively.

England captain Alastair Cook has become the youngest ever batsman to cross 10,000 runs in Test cricket and also become the 12th man to join the elite 10,000-run club in Test cricket.

Cook, who is 31 years and five months old, beat Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar's record, who was 31 years and 10 months old when he crossed 10,000 runs.

Cook achieved the landmark on Day 4 of the second Test against Sri Lanka at Chester-le-Street and He is also the first Englishman to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket.

11. Noted Kannada writer D Javare Gowda passes away:

Noted Kannada writer D Javare Gowda, popularly known as De Ja Gow, passed away on 30 May 2016. He was 101 year old.

He was a disciple of Kannada doyen and poet lauret K V Puttappa.

12. Ashok Lavasa named as Finance Secretary:

Ashok Lavasa, who was recently appointed as the Secretary, Expenditure in the Finance Ministry has been designated as the Finance Secretary by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) headed by PM Narendra Modi .

The 1980 batch IAS officer was shifted from the Environment Ministry to the Finance Ministry after the retirement of Ratan P. Watal on April 30.